Welcome! You, my friend, are reading my first ever blog post! What a relief to finally be at this point, you'd think I'd be jumping up and down, celebrating with a glass of vino....but I'm sick. Yep, under the weather today. At first I was a little disappointed, I mean I've been talking up this site and how strong and healthy I feel, and now here I am sick. I am human, after all, so feeling a bit "off" is my body's indicator that I probably should do something different: get more rest, refocus, pump myself full of good, healthy foods.As I was thinking about what to start with, I decided it would be fitting to begin with root vegetables. Beets, of course. Anytime someone is sick or healing (from surgery, having a baby, etc) I like to cook them food. I cook things like soups and other hearty meals that nourish the body and give it fuel to get through whatever it is that person is experiencing. My "go to" meals always have a common ingredient: veggies (usually root vegetables because they are versatile and store/freeze easily). Root vegetables are the ones that you see in the store that literally look as though they were just pulled from the ground (or they should, anyway). Carrots, potatoes, turnips, beets,parsnips, radishes, celeriac, etc. are just a few examples that I'm referring to.Not only are these veggies easy to prepare, they are full of vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants that keep us grounded (or "rooted" if you will) and strong. Tonight, as I sought out something light and healthy to fuel my under the weather self, I fell back to an old favorite: whitefish with quinoa and a roasted beet salad. I know, not your typical feel better food...or so you think. Greens are great for our respiratory system, quinoa is high in B vitamins, iron, zinc, and protein (ideal for endurance), beets are high in potassium and fiber, and the fish is high in omega 3's, protein and B vitamins....sounds perfect to me, but you be the judge!For the fish I baked a couple filets of tilapia with some olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika. The beet salad started with these babies.....(fresh, straight from the ground...not the can)

I cut off the ends (the ends can be eaten as well, I just didn't use them for this meal) and placed in a roaster with about an inch of water. I roasted them at 425 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until easily pierced with a knife.

After roasting, the skin comes right off. Some people prefer to peel their beets first, but I like to roast with the skins on. I will warn you that your hands (and anything else that the beets touch) will be bright red by using this method, but your hands will come clean with a little soap and water. I cut them up, tossed them with the dijon vinaigrette that I made and then roasted for another 15 min while the fish was cooking, but you could skip this step if you wanted.

I topped my mixed greens with the roasted beets, a little goat cheese and sunflower seeds. There were leftover beets and quinoa, which I'll toss with more greens for lunch tomorrow.

If you've never tried beets, I suggest you give it a shot. Roasting brings out the sweetness of vegetables, and I guarantee they won't taste the way you "think" they will. Try this method with any root vegetable and let me know what you think! Enjoy!Until next time (when I promise to talk about something other than beets!),Nicole